Myths and legends

I am looking to buy a bike and its a 1967 HD custom build hardtail. it has a complete build shovelhead. i hear things about older harleys that they vibrate loose and leak alot of oil and have to be worked on more than they can be ridden. is this true and what could be some problems with this bike and or motor.

With some of the newer parts, S&S comes to mind, and carefull rebuild of the engine, a balance/blueprint job, new type gaskets/ignition system etc, most of the engine issues can be fixed, but it still won't be a cruser ideal for long trips unles you are 20 years old and full of "youthful P&V", as we all once were.......

I am looking to buy a bike and its a 1967 HD custom build hardtail. it has a complete build shovelhead. i hear things about older harleys that they vibrate loose and leak alot of oil and have to be worked on more than they can be ridden. is this true and what could be some problems with this bike and or motor.

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Welcome to the forum. I have (well it's registered as) a '68 hardtail shovel. Except for the crank, I have completely rebuilt the engine. It has no oil leaks, but it weeps a little here and there. It's belt drive primary, and kick only. I was all excited about a kick only - rigid when I bought, and was rebuilding it. After a couple of rides on roads I THOUGHT were smooth on my Dyna, I realized rigid's are for young men (less than 50). And kick only, is fun for 2 kicks.
Yes, it vibrates a lot, but it is a sweet sounding thing even with quiet pipes.
Sadly it doesn't see much riding.

The MOCO could have made the Trouble head HMMM I mean the Shovel head LOL a leak free motor, instead it was the after market that stepped up with better gaskets and crank cases and heads, anyone with time and tools should be able to make a Shovel leak free and a strong runner, vibration is another issue, if they did not vibrate we would not ride them JMO:s

At the time they made the shovel many engine including cars had these same leak issues.We came a long way sense 1967. Not just Hd the metrics leak also.
You can not go back now and judge a shovel by today. There are a lot of them still on the road today.
Then there is the AMF story. They both save HD and hurt HD
I would love to own a knuckle someday

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Without AMF we might still be waiting for a 5 speed tranny, they poured big bucks into the MOCO to develop the 5 speed tranny and the tooling to build them, on the flip side the quality of the bikes suffered as AMF, was greedy and wanted a big return on there investment and alot of the bikes ended up in Harley Hospital, this is no joke before shipment to dealers. The MOCO has come a long way, and I too would love to own a Knucle, I thimk it is the boldest looking motor The MOCO ever produced

With all due respect guys, I hate to break up this love fest with your knuckle heads. Yes, I too was once the proud owner of a knuckle and yes even when it was new it gave me grief. I learned to deal with it but I never did learn to love that bike even though I put close to 60k miles on it. It was a great piece of Harley history but seriously I wouldn't trade a modern 96 for half a dozen knuckheads. I appreciate the nostalgia look in old Harleys but I don't want to own one. But for all those riders out there that go for that I can definitely support you.

That is the point of this trip down memory lane, I was too "young" to appreciate the good ol' daze...but still happy for my "discovery" of the "modern" 2004 I have now. Yes, back in the 70's I was playing around with the idea of a "kicker" but it was an English twin and still reminds me why I LIKE electric start. Maybe if it would have started in 2 kicks I would wax more nostalgia...but sometimes it is nice to look at the ol' bikes...as someone elses collection. Maybe C.Dolan would let us ride one out of his great collection